The reasons are uncountable, and this is why we keep returning, at least once a year. Last week we were in Matera for the (I think) the fourth time, staying at our now-favorite hotel at the bottom of the sassi.
I wanted do do some food shopping. There are three main routes to get to the upper town from the sassi and I chose the most direct one, but the one with many, many steps. Once I got to the Upper Town (do not neglect this on a visit to Matera..the city is not only about the sassi), I had another long trek to the supermarket....
The array of Lucanian produce at SuperEmme (Via Ridola, 77; there are other locations in Matera) was astonishing, so I went all out. I reached the check-out with enough to fill three very large, and heavy bags of fried peppers, crapiata (oddly named local bean soup), bags of peeled fava beans, bags of cicerchie...salted and fried fave....taralli...
all the while I was wondering how I would make it back to the hotel with all this STUFF.
At the check-out, I asked the cashier if they would deliver to my hotel but, after much back and forth with the manager, the user was an apologetic "No, Signora...not possible today..."
Now for the miracle. The woman standing in line behind me, a resident of the sassi, told me not to worry, that she would help me. And help me she did. We walked to the garage where her car was parked. We loaded all of our purchases. And Victoria proceeded to drive me on a tour of both the main city and the sassi..all along relating the story of her life and her re-location to Matera from Lecce as a child........she pointed out landmarks, shared comments about living in Matera, and we even exchanged recipes....and phone numbers..
After about an hour together, she dropped me at the entrance to my hotel......what a lovely experience, yet another of so very many reasons why I keep returning to the South.... Added plus: Matera has some of the best restaurants, at tremendous values, that we have found in the South...
I will add one more.....this happened minutes ago.
I noticed a man delivering produce to our hotel in Puglia...he was delivering a lot of cherries, just coming into season...he asked me if I liked cherries and I told him that these were among my favorite of all fruits...... An hour later, I returned to my room. On the little table near the sofa: Two gigantic bowls, overflowing with juicy, red, delicious cherries....a lovely gift...